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Our key tasks

We are primarily tasked with providing power transmission services, system services and facilitating the energy market. Our core tasks follow from our appointment as grid operator under the Dutch 'Elektriciteitswet' (E-wet) and the German 'Energiewirtschaftsgesetz' (EnWG).

Our grid

TenneT manages the high-voltage grid in the Netherlands and large parts of Germany. TenneT transmits electricity at 110,000 volts (110 kV) and higher. With over 22,000 kilometres of high-voltage lines, we cross borders and connect countries.

Grid maps

Electricity market

The energy sector is developing rapidly. The process of European market integration began some years ago. Its purpose is to create a single European market that enables market parties to trade gas and electricity across national borders easily and efficiently.

Company

TenneT is a leading European electricity transmission system operator (TSO), with activities in the Netherlands and in Germany. We strive to ensure a reliable and uninterrupted supply of electricity in our high-voltage grid for some 41 million people.

Procurement

Market coupling timeline

Coupling electricity markets is a complex process that requires a step-by-step approach to bring us to our ultimate goal of a single integrated European market.

1993: Scandinavian markets coupled

The Scandinavian countries were among the first in Europe to deregulate their electricity markets and trade electricity across the region in implicit auctions.

1999: Europe’s first independent energy exchange

The Amsterdam Power Exchange (APX) was the first independent electronic exchange in mainland Europe for day ahead auctions (trading today for electricity delivered tomorrow). The Dutch spot market trading platform is APX Power NL. There are also trading platforms in the UK and Belgium. TenneT Holding BV is the majority shareholder in APX; the rest of the shares are held by Belgian TSO Elia System Operator NV.

2000: Central auction office

TenneT joined forces with Belgian TSO Elia and Germany’s E.ON Netz and RWE Netz, to set up TSO Auction BV, a central auction office for cross-border production capacity. Its activities were transferred to CASC.EU in 2012.

2006: Trilateral Market Coupling (TLC)

The implicit market coupling of the Netherlands, Belgium and France was an important step towards the integration of the North West European electricity markets.

2008: Coupling Central West Europe

TSOs in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg set up CASC-CWE (Capacity Allocation Service Company, Central West Europe) as a joint trading platform to execute explicit long-term auctions (annual and monthly). Its activities have since expanded to include TSOs in Italy, Switzerland and Scandinavia. In 2010, the name changed to CASC-EU.

2008: Coupling Central Eastern Europe

The Central Allocation Office GmbH (CAO) was founded in 2008 as a single point of registration for capacity auctions in Central Eastern Europe, allocating cross-border electricity transmission capacity in Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia

2008: Coupling CWE and Nordics

The European Market Coupling Company (EMMC) was founded in Hamburg in 2008 to couple the CWE and Nordic regions. Its first interconnection was between Germany and Denmark in 2009. Subsequently, the Baltic Cable linked Germany and Sweden and the NorNed cable connected Norway and the Netherlands.

2011: UK coupling

The UK joined to the Dutch day-ahead market via the BritNed cable in 2011, bringing Europe a step closer to integrating day ahead markets in Europe.

2014: Coupling North West Europe

The day ahead markets in North Western Europe (NWE) were successfully coupled in February 2014, enabling electricity to be traded from France to Finland under a common day ahead electricity price calculation. This laid the foundation for multi-regional coupling and in May 2014, the NWE region was coupled with south western Europe, linking markets and TSOs all the way down to Portugal.

2015: CWE Flow Based Market Coupling

Market Coupling optimizes the efficiency of power trading by allocating cross-border transmission capacity between the different coupled spot markets, while ensuring that the physical limits of the grid are respected. In so doing, market coupling narrows price spreads between national power markets and increases social welfare for the involved countries.

2020: Towards a single European electricity market?

TenneT’s vision is to have a fully integrated electricity market by 2020. This will enable a better flow of electricity across borders, guaranteeing even greater security of supply and making electricity prices across Europe more uniform – and cheaper for end users.

Related

TenneT in the electricity sector

TenneT is the sole transmission system operator (TSO) of the national high-voltage grid of the Netherlands. In Germany, TenneT is the biggest TSO among the 4 TSOs.